Apple's head of global security Thomas Moyer indicted for trying to bribe Santa Clara sheriff's office with 200 iPads in return for concealed firearm permits
Santa Clara County prosecutors have charged four people tied to the Sheriff's Office — including undersheriff-level brass under Sheriff Laurie Smith — and Apple's own head of global security, Thomas Moyer, over an alleged scheme in which 200 iPads were offered in exchange for concealed-carry permits. It is a rare case where a Fortune 500 executive and a county law-enforcement command structure are named in the same indictment.
Apple moved within a day to defend him, saying an internal investigation found no wrongdoing — setting up a direct collision between the company's own findings and the district attorney's charges.
First-order effects
Moyer faces criminal bribery charges while remaining in his post on Apple's backing, and the Sheriff's Office loses two of its top officials to prosecution mid-scandal.
Concealed-firearm permit issuance in Santa Clara County is now under indictment-driven scrutiny, freezing normal processing while the case runs.
Second-order effects
Apple's 'no wrongdoing' stance puts its credibility on the line: if the case advances, the company's internal-investigation process becomes part of the story rather than a shield.
The scandal hands ammunition to critics of Sheriff Laurie Smith's office at a moment when its leadership is already exposed, pressuring county oversight of permit practices.
Third-order effects
The episode joins a string of internal-control failures at Apple — from the Moyer case to former employee Dhirendra Prasad's guilty plea over $17M+ in procurement fraud and kickbacks — suggesting a systemic gap between Apple's scale and its oversight of sensitive relationships inside and outside the company.
If corporate donations to law-enforcement agencies keep getting entangled with discretionary licensing power, expect stricter rules governing gifts between companies and county officials.
The trend: High-profile companies are increasingly being held accountable not just for products but for how their executives interact with government gatekeepers, forcing internal investigations to compete with prosecutorial findings.
Most states are either ‘shall-issue’ for permits to carry a gun, or ‘constitutional carry’ states allowing it without a permit. But as long as there's a ‘may-issue’ system giving sheriffs complete discretion, there's going to be corruption. https://www.mercurynews.com/ ...
Apple never donated the iPads, which had a street value of around $70,000, because the company learned about a search warrant being executed in connection with the bribery investigation. https://www.sccgov.org/... https://twitter.com/...
This story doesn't make sense. Who bribed who? How is this a bribe since they're giving iPads to the entire Sheriff's Dept? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Apple comments on Tom Moyer: “We expect all of our employees to conduct themselves with integrity. After learning of the allegations, we conducted a thorough internal investigation and found no wrongdoing.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
Amazon is hiring Pinkertons and Apple's head of ethics is accused of bribing cops with iPads in order to get a concealed carry permit. Anyway that's Monday. https://morganhilltimes.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Look... sorry but you aren't allowed to bribe people to bend gun laws because you have trade secrets and competitors. @washingtonpost you should be ashamed to have included this clause in the article. Don't make excuses for @Apple when they didn't even give you a comment!!!!! htt…
#Apple Chief Security Officer Thomas Moyer is among the four people charged in a case of highly coveted gun permits for contributions to support Sheriff Laurie Smith's reelection campaign, county prosecutors said today. https://www.paloaltoonline.com/ ...
“The two-year investigation by the District Attorney's Office revealed that Undersheriff Sung, aided by Captain Jensen in one instance, held up the issuance of CCW licenses, refusing to release them until the applicants gave something of value.” https://www.sccgov.org/...